Former NCTD official claims discrimination

A former North County Transit District official who said she was passed over for a high-ranking position in favor of a less-qualified, younger black man is suing the district alleging that racial, gender and age discrimination are prevalent in hiring practices under Executive Director Matt Tucker.

Kim Stone, the district’s former manager of bus operations, claims in the suit that Tucker, who is black, hired Alex Wiggins — who later became second in command at the transit district — instead of Stone, who is white.

Stone’s attorney, Laura Farris, said that the evidence that she has amassed over the year leading up to the lawsuit will show that Stone’s experience is not an isolated one at the district.

“This certainly isn’t just about Kim Stone and Alex Wiggins,” Farris said. “Much of this will come out during discovery and as we get closer to trial, but we believe that Kim’s situation is endemic of what is happening at the transit district.”

North County Transit’s spokeswoman Deborah Castillo said the district would not comment on an active lawsuit. Wiggins, who recently took a position at the Chicago-area commuter rail agency, Metra, scoffed at the notion he was hired because he was black.

Before taking the position at North County, Wiggins was the chief of staff at the Seattle Department of Transportation, which sets transportation policies for the region. Wiggins also served as a military policeman in the U.S. Army, a sergeant in the Seattle Police Department and as safety and security manager with Seattle Central Community College. He also has a master’s degree in management, he said.

“I think the fairest thing to say is that I can’t comment on what I haven’t seen, but my resume speaks for itself,” Wiggins said.

Stone, a 30-year veteran of public transit agencies, including 10 with North County Transit, was one of dozens of employees whose positions were going to be outsourced when the agency contracted its bus services to a private company, First Transit.

Stone, who wanted to stay with the agency to protect her pension and benefits, applied for the position of Manager of Service Quality and Accessibility. District officials instead hired Wiggins, who would later rapidly climb the ranks at North County, becoming the district’s chief administrative officer before his departure.

According to the lawsuit, Tom McCormick, the department’s director, announced the hiring before Wiggins had even accepted the position and gone through background checks.

Stone’s suit argues that she was more qualified than Wiggins for the position, which required experience handling Americans with Disabilities Act issues, which Stone learned that Wiggins did not have. The lawsuit states that Stone searched Wiggins’ job description at Seattle and found it did not match the qualifications required for the North County position.

Stone also had Tucker’s endorsement.

“Based upon information and belief, Mr. Wiggins qualifications for the position were not even close to plaintiff’s qualifications for the same,” the lawsuit states.

A week after Wiggins was hired, Tucker announced that Wiggins was going to lead the district’s communication team, not the service quality position he applied for. Stone again reapplied for the job, and district officials selected a younger man, Scott Transue.

Transue was laid off in 2011, and his replacement was laid off this year.

According to the lawsuit, Stone in May 2011 filed a discrimination charge against the district with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing and received authorization to file a lawsuit. State law gives claimants a year to file the lawsuit, Farris said, so her team spent the year interviewing witnesses and building Stone’s case.

The lawsuit does not list an amount Stone is suing for, but calls for past and future wages and benefits, general damages, medical expenses both current and future, and attorney’s fees.

Farris said that Stone would even entertain a return to the transit district, despite the turmoil that has unfolded.

“She’s never rejected that idea,” Farris said. “She wants to be employed, this is not by choice.”